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March 15, 2005
No fear for these “angels” treading with ecofeminist Ray
Lauren VikanderIf you’ve ever walked through the Student Center in the afternoon hours, there is no doubt you’ve seen a former candidate for Minnesota governor.
He’s usually sitting in the lounge on one of the couches, listening to his headphones or having one of his “angels” read to him. He’s a little bit older than the average Hamline student and has probably been at the university longer, too.
His name is Ray Tricomo, and when asked about himself, he responds in his typical, selfless manner: “I’m my least favorite subject; don’t you want to know about something else?”
Tricomo moved to Minnesota in 1994 because he was expecting to work for Minnesota corporate radio.
However, things didn’t work out the way he had planned, and Tricomo was left with plenty of time on his hands.
“I couldn’t stand the idleness and realized I need an alternative,” he said.
In 1995 he met his first angel, Molly Saunders, who was a senior at Century College. She was his first
reader.
“Molly, and all of my readers, are more than that; they’re precious angels, like daughters and a few sons,” he said.
The majority of his angels have been women, reinforcing his ideal that “young women are becoming more
and more empowered and are going to reinvent the world, [which is] an old native prophecy.”
Tricomo referred repeatedly to that prophecy during the interview, which claims that women will save the planet.
Tricomo is a radical ecofeminist, and many of his ideas and areas of interest are centered around this view.
“We’re not reading romance novels here; I like to engage my angels, so our readings center around the environment, feminism, international issues, and basically anything involved with Kalpulli, Turtle Island Multiversity.”
Kalpulli, Turtle Island Multiversity, is the project and mission Tricomo started to try to restore the environment.
He explained his idea further, saying, “Kalpulli is an all-encompassing notion: It is a university, a women’s center, a men’s center, a place for children, a place for elders, an environmental reclamation and enhancement project, a working community, an agricultural effort, and so much more.”
As for the rest of the title, Turtle Island is the name native people have given to the Western Hemisphere’s larger landmass, and Multiversity bespeaks our multifaceted processes and purposes within the greater process and the greater purpose.
Tricomo is very passionate about this project and says that it has really gotten off the ground since the website has been up.
“I’m tired of seeing women marginalized and the environment unappreciated, and I want to do something to turn it around. If I can’t do it, I know my angels will.”
If you would like to become an “angel” or get involved with Tricomo’s project, visit his website at www.kalpulli.net.or e-mail him at kalpull@kalpulli.net.
Posted by msveum at March 15, 2005 01:39 PM
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